'I was last one to talk to Jo hours before her ex beat her to death with hammer'

Ordinary mum-turned-domestic violence champion Hetti Barkworth-Nanton is headlining The Information Stage at Glastonbury this weekend to give voice to abused women like her best friend, who was beaten to death by her husband.

Hetti was the last person to speak to her “soulmate” Joanna Simpson an hour before her savage killing, and tells The Mirror: ‘I was talking to her… and then she was just literally ripped away.”

The 47-year-old mum-of-two, who was in the middle of a bitter divorce from her estranged husband, Robert Brown, had planned to stay with Hetti on the weekend she was killed.

Hetti’s life was shattered when Joanna was viciously killed and buried in a pre-dug grave by Brown in 2010, who slaughtered her within earshot of their young children.

Afterwards, Hetti and Joanna’s mother Diana Parkes started the Joanna Simpson Foundation, to help children affected by domestic violence, and were recognised for their work at last year's Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Awards.

This year's Pride of Britain Awards with P&O Cruises are now looking for nominations for tireless campaigners like Hetti and Diana.

Still grieving for her friend, Hetti, 58, from Swindon, says: “Jo was a ray of sunshine – she was kind, warm, fun and, above all, an incredible mother.

“We set up the Joanna Simpson Foundation because, having seen the law fail to protect two deeply traumatised children, we couldn’t let that happen again. We also wanted to raise awareness of domestic abuse. So often, people don’t know it is happening to those they love.”

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According to the charity, 130,000 children are in households at risk of serious injury or death, while 200 children are bereaved through murder each year.

Now Hetti, who also chairs domestic abuse charity Refuge, will be joined on stage at the UK’s biggest festival by TV presenter Zara McDermott and football pundit Eni Aluko, to raise awareness of the soaring rates of violence against women and girls.

Refuge ambassador Zara says: “Since sharing my experiences of intimate image abuse, I have been taken aback by the sheer scale of this horrific form of abuse, with many survivors sharing their own stories with me.

“Domestic abuse affects thousands of women every day. No one can afford to turn a blind eye to this devastating societal issue.”

Equally passionate, former footballer Eni has spoken out on the problem of stadiums not being safe spaces for women.

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Incredibly proud of winning Pride of Britain’s Special Recognition award last year, Hetti continues: “So much has happened over the last 15 years, but winning a Pride of Britain award has to be one of the most overwhelming and positive things. It’s amazing.”

As a direct result of their Pride of Britain award, she and Diana have successfully campaigned for the government to review the murder law and sentencing, and to look at changing the way licence conditions work for certain offenders.

They say the current system traps victims, through the rule preventing some prisoners on licence from coming within a five-mile radius of their victims and their families.

“Victims feel very anxious about going outside of a five-mile radius, where they would bump into their assailant, but the offender can go everywhere else. It’s crazy,” says Hetti.

Diana, now 86, raised her daughter’s children - now young adults - as her own after her killing.

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They wanted no contact with Brown, who was jailed for 26 years, after pleading guilty to manslaughter with diminished responsibility.

In October 2023, Diana, from the Isle of Man, and Hetti successfully campaigned to block Brown’s automatic release from prison after completing half his sentence. But he is up for parole again.

“Robert Brown is a massive danger to women and girls,” says Hetti. “He’s applied for parole again, but he hasn't yet been given a hearing for that. We believe it will be in the autumn this year.”

Hetti says she and Jo “became best buddies straight away” when they met at nursery when their children were little.

“We were really soulmates,” she says, reflecting, sadly, on how Jo called off her plans to stay with her on that fateful weekend.

“She decided she had too much work to do. I was literally speaking to her in the hour before… trying to just encourage her to stay positive, because it was their final High Court hearing a week later.

“She told me, ‘It’s not going to end when we have the divorce hearing. He’s going to carry on controlling me.

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“She knew what he was capable of, because he threatened her with a knife three years before. But we all hoped he wanted to get on with life with his new girlfriend, who was pregnant.”

Even now, Hetti misses Jo and struggles with the loss. “You know I was talking to her and then she was just literally ripped away,” she explains.

“Then there was no-one to give Jo her voice at the trial, and he ended up getting manslaughter.”

Hetti has suffered serious health issues from the shock of Jo’s horrific death. “I spent four years unable to work with really severe complex PTSD. And then in 2018 got breast cancer, which was inevitably due to the trauma,” she says.

She and Diana both fear Brown being released. “We’re really worried, terrified,” says Hetti. “This is a man who spent his marriage resenting Jo because of the pre-nup he signed. And that resentment turned to utter distaste and then insidious hatred.

“It took him three years after they separated to carry out what he did. But having spent three months digging a grave, he holds vengeance like no other.

“He will be absolutely furious at the fact that he's been kept in prison longer than he believed he was going to be there. And he blames myself and Di for that.

“We just hope he stays in prison for long enough, so he will be older and that bit less physically capable of doing anything.”

Both women were appointed CBEs in the New Year Honours List 2024 in recognition of their work, and Queen Camilla says they are her inspiration for raising awareness around domestic violence.

Diana, who refuses to give up the fight, vows: “I will continue until my dying days to keep children safe and to eliminate domestic abuse.”

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Major breakthroughs

After Hetti and Diana collected their award at last year’s glittering Pride of Britain ceremony, the pair went to Number 10 the following day to meet PM Keir Starmer.

Hetti recalls: “We then met Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and the Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood, where we put forward a number of issues we’re concerned about, regarding the law and the treatment of victims.

“Two things have happened notably since then. First is that the High Commissioner of Justice has announced a full review by the Law Commission into the murder law and sentencing, and indeed have attributed our campaigning to that decision.

“The second issue we discussed, which is very much the brainchild of Diana and something that she feels very strongly about, is the licence conditions that are in place to stop offenders from going near the victim.

“When somebody is let out on license, it not only highlights to the offender where the victim lives, it effectively traps the victim within that five-mile range. They feel very anxious about going outside that five-mile radius limit, where they would bump into the offender, but the offender can go everywhere else.

“We campaigned really hard for the need to change that, particularly for dangerous offenders, so that the offender is given tight licence conditions, which leaves the victims free to travel.”

Hetti adds: “Shabana Manood announced in the House that she is now going to explicitly look at changing the way licence conditions work for certain offenders, doing exactly what we've asked her to do.”

The background

Believing he’d been “stitched up” by a pre-nup, Robert Brown bludgeoned his estranged wife Joanna Simpson to death with a claw hammer – within earshot of their then nine and 10-year-old children – in Ascot, Berkshire, in October 2010.

The former BA pilot buried her body in a pre-dug grave in Windsor Great Park, before confessing to police the following day.

The couple had been separated for three years.

Brown, then 47, claimed their bitter divorce proceedings had put him under great stress.

Found not guilty of murder, Brown was initially sentenced to 26 years for manslaughter.

After a public outcry at the leniency of the sentence and outraged that.he could be released automatically after serving half his sentence, Hetti and Diana met with the then government.

And, in October 2023, the government blocked Brown’s automatic release the following month, referring his case to the Parole Board.

Government lawyers said Brown had "persistently refused to engage in the rehabilitative elements of his sentence".

In a landmark decision, the court dismissed the appeal, stating there were "good grounds for believing" that Brown posed a "high risk to the public of serious harm”.

Now Brown has once again applied for a parole hearing, which is due to be held in autumn.

• Do you know a campaign that deserves to be nominated for a Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Special Recognition Award, in partnership with P&O Cruises?

How to nominate:

Campaigns that change the world are at the heart of Pride of Britain, and over the past 26 years, some truly dedicated work by community-minded people have inspired the nation.

If you know a campaign that deserves an award, like Hetti and Diana, you can nominate them for:

SPECIAL RECOGNITION
For achievements not covered in other categories, such as inspiring carers, campaigners and members of armed forces.

The Pride of Britain team will consider every nomination, before compiling a shortlist for the judging panel. Nominate now at prideofbritain.com